BAGUIO CITY-Business Circles have been talking about them for months now. But few took serious note of talks that a group of retired bankers and accountants has set up a call center to finance philanthropic work in the poorest communities of this city.

Nam-ay Ti Umili Inc. (NTU), a foundation that provides business consultancy and micro-finance support for Baguio’s urban poor, formed a non-stock, non-profit call center inside the Baguio City Economic Zone on Oct. 3, 2005 for under P2 million.

NTU is a two-year old foundation, which began as a group of computer-savvy business experts before it diversified into a P100,000 lending project that caters to street vendors and residents here.

NTU operates its 50-member call center as an outbound facility, which sells credit lines or American products overseas on behalf of foreign clients so it can generate P6 million each month to fund social projects.